The present invention relates to an assembly of electric connectors of the stacked type wherein the upper one of these connectors overlies the lower one. More particularly, the invention relates to the surface-mount type assembly of connectors each having an insulated housing and a plurality of contacts, such that each contact extending rearwards is bent down to provide a conductive tail end to be inserted in a corresponding hole formed in a printed circuit board when mounting thereon the subject assembly.
Recent sophistication of the wiring and circuits in electronic apparatuses has been making it necessary to employ certain stacked type assemblies of electric connectors. Such assemblies for incorporation into computers, copiers or the like are disclosed for example in the Japanese Patent No. 3024069 and Laying-Open Gazette No. 9-148007.
In the stacked type assembly shown in Patent No. 3024069, a discrete and additional supporting member is used to stack the upper connector on the lower one. This structure undesirably increases the number of constituent parts and its manufacture requires much time and labor. Another assembly as proposed in the Gazette No. 9-148007 employs a one-piece mold as the common housing for the pair of upper and lower connectors. Thus, it has been unable to separate one of them from the other and use either of them individually.
An object of the present invention made in view of these drawbacks is to provide a stacked type assembly such that the upper electric connector can be easily laid on and united with the lower one without aid of any additional parts, and nevertheless enabling isolation of one connector from the other to be used alone.
In order to achieve this object, an assembly proposed herein substantially consists of an upper connector and a lower connector stacked one on another, each connector comprising an insulated housing and a plurality of contacts held in place therein. The contacts in each connector have conductive tail ends that are fitted in and through a guiding support and spaced from each other. The connector assembly is however characterized in that the insulated housing of the upper connector has opposite side-walls extending downwards to form a pair of elongate legs, with the insulated housing of the lower connector also having opposite side-walls likewise extending down to form a pair of stubby legs shorter than the elongate legs. More importantly, the lower connector is detachably secured in between the elongate legs so as to be tightly nested in the upper connector, with the guiding support being detachably secured to lower ends of the elongate and/or stubby legs, in such a state that the upper and lower connectors are capable of separation from each other to be used alone.
In order to consolidate the lower connector with the upper one stacked thereon, each elongate leg of the upper connector may have a cutout opened down. Correspondingly, each stubby leg of the lower connector may have a ridge fitted in the cutout so that the insulated housings of the connectors are fixed in place relative to each other. This structure will provide a surer mutual engagement between the constituent connectors and afford a higher rigidity to the assembly.
Preferably, the guiding supports of the upper and lower connectors are formed integral with each other to provide a common support plate, so as not only to reduce the number of parts but also to further improve rigidity of this assembly.